Saturday, February 12, 2011

On Super Bowl Sunday, Bill O'Reilly (Fox News) interviewed President Obama, though I didn't find out about it till Monday. Ironically, of the several random books downloaded onto my iPod, I finished listening to "Audacity of Hope" by Barack Obama and started "A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity" by Bill O'Reilly. So what do I think about these guys?

Barack Obama
I agree with many of the ideas that Pres. Obama preaches about values, politics, faith and family. However, I can't get over the fact that some of his actions don't match his words. For example, his action of increasing the Federal debt by more ($3.7 trillion) in 2 years than our country accumulated in its first 225 years [1] is in direct conflict what he said in 2006:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.” [2]

To be fair, the first 225 years don't include the last 10 years with the previous four presidents (Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan) increasing the debt from $1 trillion to over $10 trillion. They really should have created surpluses during these decades of relative prosperity. With a surplus, Pres. Obama would have been better equipped to handle the financial crisis (Pharaoh's dream of 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine keeps coming to mind [3]).

Bill O'Reilly
I watch the O'Reilly factor on occasion so it was interesting to learn more about him. I also find an inconsistency in what he says and what he does. He made a very convincing case that he's a simple guy and the driving force behind him is righting wrongs and sticking up for the underdog. His actions on his television show are not consistent with this. It seems to me that it is VERY important to him to be right, and if a guest ever starts to win an argument, he talks over them and cuts them off. He may look out for the underdog, but to Bill O'Reilly the number one underdog to stick up for is Bill O'Reilly.

While his behavior can be annoying, I can choose not to watch him. Unfortunately I don't have a choice when it comes to the extra $3.7 trillion in federal debt.

The Interview
I think Bill and Barack did very well with the interview. You have to respect the President while trying to hold him accountable, and Mr. O'Reilly did that as well as could be expected.